Taiwan Taipei Mission

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Visa News

My dear family and friends!!!!! I hope everyone is doing great. This
week has been a great week for me! I can't wait to tell you all about my
week.

Family: It seems like you are all doing great
and having fun. Although I am a little jealous you were able to go to
the BYU football game on Saturday, I am loving my time here in the MTC.
The picture you took across the street from the MTC almost shows the
building that I am in everyday, 24/7. You all look so happy. I can't
wait to talk to you all in a couple weeks.

Idaho has SO much snow! That is crazy. There is like no snow on the grounds here. The mountains are beautiful though!

Bryan:
Sounds like you are doing great. I love reading your weekly emails. FHE
sounds like it is a blast there with all the cute kids. Keep having
fun. The Philippines are so lucky to have you as a missionary right
now.

As for the AMAZING news!!! I am so happy to
say that we will be the first group of missionaries going straight to
TAIPEI, TAIWAN in many many months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, here is the
story. When I came in on October 1st, there was a total of 3 districts
(including mine) that came in on that day. There are two in my zone and
one in the other Mandarin speaking zone. Elder Dorius is in the other
district in my zone that came in on October 1st. He went in to the
Travel Office on Thursday and asked them about our visa's. We hadn't
heard anything up until that point. They told them that they would look
into it and come back Friday morning at 7 and they would tell him. So
Friday morning, he, Elder Bates (from my zone), and Elder Anderson (from
my zone, different district) all went in and talked to them. They told
them that our visa's have a three step process. They were currently on
step 2 which is when they are in Taiwan and they were pretty confident
that they were about done in Taiwan and they would be sending them back
to San Francisco for step 3. They told them that they decided that they
would keep us here at the MTC until they got our visas. The crazy thing
too is that we had reassignments and they cancelled our reassignments on
Friday morning. (The reason why I asked you if you got an email was
that some missionaries' families got emails on Friday/Saturday as to
where their missionary was going for their reassignment. So I was
curious where my reassignment would have been.

Every morning
at 7:30, our zone has gym time so we were all told this during gym. I
was playing four square when Elder Dorius came over to tell me and I
freaked out! I was so happy. I dropped the ball and said, "I'm out!" and
ran over to Sis. Lindsay to tell her the news! We were so so happy!
People probably thought that we were crazy...but that's alright. :) As
soon as we get more information, we will be able to let you know.

As
for right now, this is the plan that we will go straight to Taiwan. We
are still not 100% positive but we will for sure keep our fingers
crossed.

So, here is my week.

Monday: Every Monday
night, we get to TRC with individuals from Taiwan. Last Monday, Sis.
Lindsay and I were able to talk to Charles Wyatt. He is from Gao Sheng
and is 20 years old. Charles was baptized a year ago and is the only
member in his family. He was so funny. We would speak Chinese to him and
he would respond in English. His testimony was so strong and he loves
the gospel. It was so cool to hear how much he wants his family to join
the church.

Tuesday: Tuesday night's devotional
was by Linda K Burton (Relief Society General President) and her
husband, Craig P. Burton. They talked about John 3:16 and Sis. Burton
shared the Prodigal Son's Story in Luke 15. (Side Note: What is crazy is
that Tuesday morning during Personal Study, I read Luke 15.) I have
learned so much more about the Atonement while I have been here at the
MTC. My testimony of the power of the Atonement has grown so much. After
devotional, we have district review. Brother and Sister Davis from the
branch Presidency was in our review with us. Brother Davis served his
mission in Peru. He shared about this Sister named Sister Alvarez and
how she gave the missionaries so many referrals. He said most likely if
you would ask a new convert who introduced them to the gospel, it would
be Sister Alvarez. He talked about the imporatance of creating
friendships with the members of the wards you are serving in. Bro. Davis
also asked us to do some family temple names for him a couple weeks
ago. One of them was named Martha Burnett. (She has a sister named Eliza
Burnett) I did her temple work for her and the whole time I was
thinking, "We could so be related!" I asked him about her and told her
that my mom's maiden name is Burnett. We both did some family history
research and as far as we know, we are not related but it was cool to
talk about Family History with him. I hope someday I will be able to
start doing some more family history.

Thursday:
Our district and the other district in our zone that came in on October
1st joined together and we split up into companionships and taught each
other the first lesson. Sis Lindsay and I taught and were taught by
Elder Whitney and Blanscett. Elder Whitney's family has lived in Beijing
I think for most of his life so he is really good at Chinese. I learned
so much from listening to him.

Friday: Other
than finding out about our visas, It was a normal day of class and
study. In language we played Charades to review grammar and it was
hilarious. Bro. Chia and Bro. Johnson (Resource Teacher) were in there
with us and they were laughing so hard at all of us.

Saturday:
Sis. Lindsay and I taught Su Di Xiong for the last time. We get a new
investigator tonight to practice the first couple lessons again. He
finally accepted baptism. We were so happy. It makes me so excited to
teach people in Taiwan. I can't wait. We played Jeopardy with Sis. Ochoa
to review the lessons in PMG and our vocab, grammar, and tones. It was
really fun but super hard!

Sunday: My favorite
day of the week (as always). Music and the Spoken Word was fabulous. It
makes me so excited for this season of Thanksgiving and Christmas! Our
Relief Society speaker was Neill F. Marriott (2nd Counselor, Young
Women's General Presidency) and her husband, David. She talked about
Using the Spirit in every situation. Listening and acting on the
promptings you receive are VITAL as a missionary. She also talked about
the importance of giving your whole heart and soul to the Savior.

My
district and I sang our own arrangement of 'I Believe in Christ' in
Sacrament Meeting. Tomorrow morning at 3 AM, Sis. Moe leaves for New
York so yesterday was her last Sunday. I loved singing that song. It
truly invites the Spirit. Sadly, yesterday Sister Lindsay and I got
released as Sister Training Leaders. They switch out Zone Leaders and
Sister Training Leaders every 3 weeks. I loved serving and getting to
know the Sister's in my branch. I will miss it! Last night, our
devotional speaker was Stephen B. Allen (Managing Director-Missionary
Department) and his wife, Nancy. He talked about how missionaries are
the messengers and the feelings of the Spirit is what bears witness of
truth. The movie we went to watch after the devotional was The
Testaments in Mandarin, Chinese. Almost our whole zone was there. There
was English subtitles but we were all surprised by how much we could
pick out words and understand. I love this movie. It is amazing!

All in all, I had a great week. I am learning so much and I can't wait to use it in the field.

HAPPY
THANKSGIVING!! I am so grateful for you all and all that you do for me!
Thanks for all of the love and support I am getting from home. It means
so much! Have a great week! Eat some amazing Thanksgiving food for
me!!